


I was thinking maybe you could stay awhile

by janie_tangerine



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coffee Shops, M/M, Robb Stark is a Gift, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4205241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>where Robb's coffee shop gets a regular customer who looks fairly down on his luck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I was thinking maybe you could stay awhile

**Author's Note:**

> written for an anon on tumblr who wanted 'throbb and coffee shop AU'. This ended up being a vintage coffee shop au without the fancy coffee and it was also too long for the ficlets dump so here we go. Nothing belongs to me, the title is from a Sister Hazel song.

Robb isn’t on shift the first time the guy comes into the shop, nor the second or the third - Sansa and Jeyne were, and they’re the ones dubbing him  _dark, attractive and sour._  Robb doesn’t get what they mean until the guy in question comes in during his shift - he always gets the evening one, which is fairly calm if it’s not a week-end, and he understands why they dubbed him like that. Guy’s fairly young - his age, more or less -, indeed attractive, with dark hair and eyes, a bit taller than him but thinner, and he’s wearing worn-out clothes and a leather jacket that’s not heavy enough for the winter London weather. The man orders a black coffee, sits at a table and stays there until closing time, which is one in the morning, and he’s the last one to leave. Robb bids him goodnight and he doesn’t get an answer. 

The next time he comes in, it’s exactly the same scene. Robb asks Sansa later and she tells him that yeah, the guy came in, ordered something fairly cheap, stayed at the table until he couldn’t postpone anymore and then left. The fifth time Robb serves him coffee, he notices that he’s a bit too much on the thin side, and - screw it.  _He_  runs this joint, or at least half of it, and he’s pretty sure that his sister won’t mind, if she even finds out. He grabs a tuna sandwich and a piece of apple pie from the display and heads for the guy’s table - it’s a really slow night and there’s no one else in the shop anyway.

“On the house,” he says in what he hopes is a tone that doesn’t admit rebuttals.

“What - wait, no, I can’t -” the guy starts, and Robb just takes a step back and raises his hands.

“Don’t even try it. I can see you haven’t eaten in a day at least, and I’m not going to ask you any questions about it, but I’m not taking that back.”

Dark, attractive and sour stares at him for a moment, and then. “Thank you,” he says, sounding like someone who hasn’t had reasons to say it in ages, and Robb notices that he finishes everything in minutes before grabbing his jacket and leaving.

–

The next time, Robb gives him some food along with the coffee without having been asked. The guy tries to refuse and then he has to relent because there’s a line behind him.

And then it happens another handful of times until one evening when no one’s around, either, the guy walks up to the counter.

“Why do you even do it?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Robb retorts. “I won’t go bankrupt because once in a while I give out one sandwich for free.”

“ _Why wouldn’t you_ ,” the guy says again under his breath. “Are you even for real?” _  
_

“I should hope so,” Robb answers, staring back at the guy. And then he figures that he should go for it. “By the way, I’m Robb. Figures I should introduce myself at least, right?”

The guy looks at his extended hand for a moment before blinking and shaking it back. “It was on your tag. But anyway, I’m Theon. And you’re going to let me pay for a coffee refill.”

Robb accepts the money and refills the cup, and doesn’t ask any further questions.

–

He doesn’t ask any questions at all until one Saturday right before Christmas holidays when he has the graveyard shift, they close at two AM and it’s snowing outside. Theon stayed until the last moment, as usual, and only had coffee refills, as usual, and Robb needs to close up shop for the next two days or so.

And Theon looks like someone who doesn’t want to walk out at all.

“Let me guess,” Robb says, “you don’t have someplace to go, do you?”

“Technically,” Theon sighs.

“Like?”

“Well, I live in my car as it is, so I do. But I can hardly keep the heating open if I don’t want to waste money on gas, can’t I?” _  
_

Guy sounds utterly miserable at that, and who wouldn’t. Robb had kind of figured out it would be something like that.

He thinks about it for a moment, then he looks at the phone - he should call Sansa before doing this, after all it’s half her place, but she’s probably out to have dinner with some boyfriend of hers that she met doing charity work or something, so she’s not going to be home.

Fine, he’s just going to suffer the consequences.

“Listen, there’s a spare room in the back with a cot and stuff if either Sansa or I want to crash and can’t be arsed to go home. We’re going to be closed until the 27th, which is - three days from now, but there’s some food and water in the refrigerator. Always in that same room. If I give you the key for the back exit, can I trust everything to be as I left it when I open up the shop again?”

Theon’s eyes go so wide it would almost be comical.

“Wait. Wait, you’re saying  _I_  should use the bed for the next three days?”

“I don’t see anyone else around.”

“You don’t even  _know_  me.”

Robb shrugs. “Point taken, but you don’t look like some kind of deranged serial killer, there’s no money around that you could steal if you felt like it and I’d like to keep on refilling your coffee, which is not happening if you freeze to death in your car.”

Then he drops the keys to the backdoor in Theon’s hand without even waiting for an answer. “The room’s upstairs, it’s the door with  _staff only_  on the outside. Take it as a Christmas present.”

Theon just stares at him and gives him a short nod. Robb flees outside the door before Theon can thank him and proceeds to lock the outside door and everything.

He really hopes his instincts weren’t wrong.

–

When he comes back to work on the morning of the 27th, he comes into the shop to find himself in front of a completely spotless room. He hadn’t been looking forward to cleaning up dust and all the usual tasks you have to go through after locking up for three days straight, but all the tables were dusted off and cleaned, the floor has also been recently washed, the display’s glass is sparkly clean as well and when Robb glances inside the kitchen he sees that it also was given a good scrub.

He waits for a minute and then he hears Theon coming down from the first floor - he also has a kind of meager duffel bag slung on his shoulder.

He visibly swallows and comes close to Robb, handing him the key back.

“Thanks for - for the room. I used the laundry machine.”

“That’s fine. Considering that you also cleaned up the entire place I’m sure we’re even.”

Theon shrugs, obviously uncomfortable. “Well, didn’t have anything better to do on Christmas day. I’ll just be out of your hair now.”

“Wait a moment. How about I make some coffee and you tell me why you’re living in your car? If you want to, of course.”

Turns out, Theon wants to. Robb is kind of horrified as he learns that the guy was pretty much thrown out of the house when his father found out he also fancied men other than women, so he never finished his degree, and then he got laid off from his job after a few years. _  
_

“At that point I didn’t have enough saved up to pay for my rent anymore, so I ended up in the car and didn’t quite get out of it. The end,” Theon finishes as he drinks the last of his coffee.

“I suppose your dad didn’t change his mind?”

“When I called after I was laid off he said he was surprised my supposed lifestyle hadn't killed me yet, and hung up on me, so no, I don’t think he did.”

“Wow. That’s - that’s pretty damn disgusting.”

“Glad to know someone thinks so. Anyway. It was nice. Now I’m really going to get out of your hair, you did more than enough.”

“Wait a moment. You’re good at cleaning up, aren’t you?”

Theon shrugs again. “My mom died when I was ten and it wasn’t like anyone else in the house would do it. Also when I lived alone I didn’t like staying in a dump, thank you very much. Why’s that?”

Robb  _really_  hopes Sansa won’t have his hide for this.

“Can you wait there five minutes?”

“… Yes? But why?”

“Just do it.”

He calls Sansa, who  _does_  have his hide for not having told her about letting Theon stay in the backroom but who doesn’t say no when he spills the entire story and tells her what he has in mind.

“You better hope it’s the right call,” she tells him, and Robb smirks as he puts down the phone.

Then he goes back to the table.

“So,” he starts, “let’s say my sister and I were thinking about hiring a second waiter instead of roping our younger siblings into helping Jeyne out. Which we shouldn’t be doing in the first place.”

“You  _aren’t_  offering me a job.”

“And what if it’s exactly what I was doing?”

“ _Why_?”

“Why not? Seems like you’re due for some decent karma. Never mind that I had that conversation with my parents, too, and I know that not everyone gets it half as good as I did.”

“Wait. You mean that -”

“I mean  _that_  conversation, yes. So, you’re taking the job or not?”

They stare at each other for a moment, and then Theon’s mouth curls up in a grin that’s almost breathtaking.

“If it comes with the free food, sure, I just might.”

Robb smirks back and thinks that he really can’t wait to be proved right about this.

 

End.


End file.
